The hardest part of taking time off might be the anticipation of what awaits workers when they get back — from an overflowing inbox and a calendar packed with catch-up meetings to important context lost while they were away. New research from Zoom shows that workers dread returning from vacation, and that dread is changing how, or whether, they take time off at all.

Zoom's Out of Office Index, a national study conducted by Morning Consult, found that 61% of knowledge workers dread the work waiting for them after PTO and 48% feel anxious before their time away even begins. That pressure is changing how people use their time away, with 57% leaving at least some available PTO unused over the past year, 42% considering skipping time off altogether because of work stress, and 68% saying they would rather monitor their inbox during vacation than return to an inbox with hundreds of unread emails.

The Anxiety Around Time Off Is Real and Measurable

For many workers, preparing for PTO means bracing for the return, with 48% feeling anxious before vacation begins and 65% working extra hours beforehand to stay ahead. After they return, 61% dread the amount of work waiting for them, 77% say unread emails and messages are a source of stress, 88% need at least one full day to recover, and 53% need three or more days to feel fully caught up.

The strain is not evenly distributed. Gen Z workers report especially high levels of anxiety — 52% feel anxious before PTO, 52% have considered skipping vacation because of work stress, and 65% left at least some PTO unused last year. Managers are also heavily affected: 53% feel anxious before taking time off, compared with 36% of individual contributors, and 70% work extra hours before they leave.

---

One Person's Time Off Becomes Everyone's Problem

The ripple effects extend well beyond the individual. According to the study, 71% of workers say they at least sometimes experience work delays when a teammate is out, 75% say work tied to a key teammate stalls for at least a day, 65% encounter collaboration challenges, and 60% report operational inefficiencies when a colleague is away. That pressure is shaping investment decisions, with 76% of IT decision-makers planning to invest in team productivity and work-continuity tools within the next 12 months.

Workers Want AI to Help Them Catch Up

AI support is especially appealing around the return to work. In the survey, 82% want AI to summarize what they missed, 80% want automatic recaps of decisions made in their absence, and 79% want AI-generated to-do lists for their first day back. Notably, 78% would be more likely to fully disconnect if AI reliably caught them up on return, and 76% would use more of their available PTO if AI reliably helped them catch up. To help close that gap, Zoom built ZoomMate's new Out of Office Workflows — including a "While I'm Out" Canvas, a prioritized "Day 1 Plan," a Missed Messages Digest, and Action Item Triage — designed to help workers prepare before they leave and catch up quickly when they return.